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From: eburns@ADS.COM (Edward Burns)
Newsgroups: rec.hunting
Subject: Re: steel shot
Message-ID: <447@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
Date: 28 Mar 91 13:04:00 GMT
References: <423@erb1.engr.wisc.edu> <427@erb1.engr.wisc.edu> <441@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
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In article <441@erb1.engr.wisc.edu> mitchell@metaphor.metaphor.com (Greg Mitchell) writes:
>Most of the posts on this subject seemed to complain about the tighter
>pattern of steel for the kind of shooting that was being done. However
>this reply seems to imply that with lead, pellets are wasted by deviating
>too far from the center-line of trajectory leaving not enough pellets
>in the required concentration to down the target.

This is something that could be debated forever.  My feeling is that
the "useful area" is that area within a couple of feet of your aim point.
I know, you don't "aim" a shotgun, but I couldn't think of another way
to say it.  So yeah, in a way, I think any pellets that stray out of that
area are of no use.  I've actually talked to hunters though, that count
on the fact that if they "miss" a bird, they may still knock it down with
a stray pellet.  These are the guys I try to stay *very* far away from in
the marsh.

Ed